This key molecule is called hyaluronan. It exists in long chains
around cells holding them together in tissues. The hyaluronan
chains found in mole rats are many times larger than the kinds
found in shorter-lived rodents, like mice and rats.

The researchers think the long chains stop healthy cells
from becoming cancer cells.

When Andrei Seluanov, of the University of Rochester, tried
growing naked mole rat cells in the lab, they kept turning into a
gooey, slow-moving syrup — not normal.

Seluanov wildly guessed that this clumping might have something
to do with the mole rats' weirdness. He saw that when
injected into mice the cells didn't grow tumors, but
they did when they were stopped from making hyaluronan.

That was pretty strong proof.

These findings could lead to treatments for humans in the future,
Seluanov told Nature News, though it will probably be a few years
still.

Naked mole rats probably didn't evolve long chain hyaluronan to
fight cancer, but to help squeeze through the tiny underground
tunnels that these animals burrow through. Up to 80 bald and
almost-blind individuals huddle into their insect-like colonies
(dominated by one breeding queen) in low-oxygen conditions.